AGREEMENT BETWEEN

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC

AND
THE GOVERNMENT OF HIS MAJESTY THE SULTAN AND
YANG DI-PERTUAN OF BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
FOR THE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION
RELATING TO TAX MATTERS
WHEREAS the Government of the French Republic and the Government ofRis Majesty
The Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam ("the Contracting Parties") wish to
establish terms and conditions in order to iacilitate exchange of iniormation relating to
taxes;
NOW, therefore, the Contracting Parties have agreed to conclude the following
Agreement.
ARTICLEl
OBJECT AND SCOPE OF THE AGREEMENT
L The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties shall provide assistance
through exchange of information that is foreseeably relevant to the administration and
enforcement of the domestic laws of the Contracting Parties concerning taxes and tax
matters covered by this Agreement. Such information shall include information that is
foreseeably relevant to the determination, assessment, verification and collection of such
taxes, the recovery and enforcement of tax claims, or the investigation or prosecution of
tax matters.
2. The rights and sat(:guards secured to persons by the laws or administrative practice
of the Requested Party remain applicable to the extent that they do not unduly prevent or
delay effective exchange of information.
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ARTICLE 2
JURISDICTION
To enable the provisions of tills Agreement to be implementeu, information shall be
provided in accordance with this Agreement by the competent authority of the Requested
Party without regard to whether the person to whom the information relates is, or whether
the information is held by, a resident or national or citizen of a Contracting Party. A
Requested Party is not obliged to provide information, which is neither held by its
authorities nor in the possession of or in the control of or obtainable by persons who are
within its territorial jurisdiction.
ARTICLE 3
TAXES COVERED
1. The taxes covered by this Agreement are the existing taxes imposed by the laws of
the Contracting Parties.
2. The Agreement shall also apply to any other taxes imposed after the date of
signature of this Agreement as may be agreed in an exchange of letters between the
Contracting Parties.
3. The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties shall notity each other of any
relevant changes to the taxation and related information gathering measures covered by
this Agreement.
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ARTICLE 4
DEFINITIONS
1. For the purposes of this Agreement, unless otherwise defined:
a) "France" means the European and overseas departments of the French
Republic including the territorial sea, and any area outside the territorial sea within
which, in accordance with international law, the French Republic has sovereign
rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting the natural resources of the
seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters;
b) "Brunei Darussalam" means the territory of Brunei Darussalam including
its territorial sea, extending to the airspace above such territory, over which it
exercises sovereignty, and the maritime area beyond its territorial sea, including
sea-bed and subsoil over which it exercises sovereign rights and jurisdiction in
accordance with international law";
c) the term "competent authority" means:
i) in the ease of France, the Minister of Finance, or the Minister's
authorized representative;
ii) in the case of Brunei Darussalam, the Minister of Finance, or the
Minister's authorized representative;
d) the term "person" includes a natural person, a legal per SOli, or any body or
group of such persons;
e) the term "tax" means any tax to which the Agreement applies;
f) the term "Requesting Party" means the Party requesting information;
g) the term "Requested Party" means the Party requested to provide
information;
h) the term "information gathering measures" means laws and administrative
or judicial procedures that enable a Contracting Party to obtain and provide the
requested information;
i) the term "information" means any fact, statement, document or record in
any fornl whatever;
j) the term "criminal tax matters" means tax matters involving intentional
conduct which is liable to prosecution under the criminal laws of the Requesting
Party;
k) the term "criminal laws" means all criminal laws designated as such under
domestic law irrespective of whether contained in the tax laws, the criminal code
or other statutes.
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2. As regards the application of this Agreement at any time by a Contracting Party,
any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning
that it has at that time under the law of that Contracting Party, any meaning under the
applicable tax laws of that Contracting Party prevailing over a meaning given to the term
under other laws of that Contracting Party.
ARTICLES
EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION UPON REQUEST
1. The competent authority of the Requested Party shall provide upon request in
writing information for the purposes referred to in Article 1. Such information shall be
exchanged without regard to whether the conduct being investigated would constitute a
crime under the laws of the Requested Party if such conduct occurred in the Requested
Party.
2. If the information in the possession of the competent authority of the Requested
Party is not sufficient to enable it to comply with the request for information, that
Contracting Party shall use all relevant information gathering measures to provide the
Requesting Party with the information requested, notwithstanding that the Requested Party
may not need such information for its own tax purposes.
3. If specifically requested by the competent authority of the Requesting Party, the
competent authority of the Requested Party shall provide information under this Article, to
the extent allowable under its domestic laws, in the tbrm of depositions of witnesses and
authenticated copies of original records.
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4. Each Contracting Party shall ensure that its competent authorities, for the purposes
specified in Paragraph 1 of Article 1 of this Agreement, have the authority to obtain and
provide upon request.
a) information held by banks, other financial institutions, and any person,
including nominees and trustees, acting in an agency or fiduciary capacity;
b) (i) information regarding the legal ownership and the beneficial
ownership of companies, partnerships, collective investment schemes, and other
persons;
(ii) in the case of trusts, information on settlors, trustees, beneficiaries
and protectors; and
(iii) in the case of a foundation, information on the founders, members of
the foundation council and beneficiaries.
5. The competent authority of the Requesting Party shall provide the following
information to the competent authority of the Requested Party when making a request for
information under the Agreement to demonstrate the foreseeable relevance of the
information to the request:
a) the identity of the person under examination or investigation;
b) the period of time with respect to which information is requested;
c) the nature of the information requested and the form in which the
Requesting Party wishes to receive it;
d) the tax purposes for which the information is sought;
e) grounds for believing that the information requested IS held in the
Requested Patty or is in tile possession of; or ill the control of or obtainable by a
person within the jurisdiction of the Requested Party;
f) to the ell.1:ent known, the name and address of any person believed to be in
possession of or in control of or able to obtain the requested information;
g) a statement that the request conforms with the law and administrative
practices of the Requesting Party and that if the requested information was within
the jurisdiction of the Requesting Party, then the competent authority of the
Requesting Party would be able to obtain the information;
h) a statement that the Requesting Party has pursued all means available in its
own territory to obtain the information, except where that would give rise to
disproportionate difficulties.
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6. To ensure a prompt response, the competent authority of the Requested PaJ1y shall:
a) confirm the receipt of a request in writing to the competent authority of the
Requesting PaJ1y and shallnutify the cumpetent authurity uf the Requesting Party
of any deficiencies in the request within 60 days of receipt of the request;
b) if the competent authority of the Requested Party has been unable to obtain
and provide the information within 90 days of receipt of the request, it shall inform
the Requesting Party, explaining the reason for its inability.
ARTICLE 6
TAX EXAMINATIONS OR INVESTIGATIONS ABROAD
1. The Requested Party may, to the extent permitted under its domestic laws,
following reasonable notice from the Requesting Party, allow representatives of the
competent authority of the Requesting Party to enter the territory of the Requested Party to
interview individuals and examine records with the prior written consent of the persons
concerned. The competent authority of the Requesting Party shall notify the competent
authority of the Requested Party of the time and place of the meeting with the persons
concerned.
2. At the request of the competent authority of the Requesting Party, the competent
authority of the Requested Party may allow representatives of the competent authority of
the Requesting Party to attend a tax examination in the territory of the Requested Party.
3. If the request referred to in paragraph 2 is granted, the competent authority of the
Requested Party conducting the examination shall, as soon as possible, notify the
competent authority of the Requesting Party of the time and place of the examination, the
authority or official authorised to carry out the examination and the procedures and
conditions required by the Requested Party for the conduct of the examination. All
decisions regarding the conduct of the tax examination shall be made by the Requested
Party conducting the examination.
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ARTICLE 7
POSSmILITY OF DECLINING A REQUEST
I. The competent authority of the Requested Party may decline to assist where the
request is not made in conformity with this Agreement or where the disclosure of the
information requested would be contrary to public policy (ardre public).
2. The provisions of this Agreement shall not impose upon a Contracting Party the
obligation to supply information which would disclose any trade, business, industrial,
commercial or professional secret (confidential conununications between a client and an
attorney, solicitor or other admitted legal representative where such communications are
produced tor the purposes of seeking or providing legal advice or for the purposes of use
in existing or contemplated legal proceedings) or trade process, provided that information
described in Paragraph 4 of Article 5 shall not by reason of that fact alone be treated as
such a secret or trade process.
3. A request for information shall not be refused on the ground that the tax claim
giving rise to the request is disputed.
4. The Requested Party shall not be required to obtain and provide information which
the Requesting Party would be unable to obtain under its own laws for the purpose of the
administration or enforcement of its own tax laws or in response to a valid request made in
similar circumstances from the Requested Party under this Agreement.
5. The Requested Party may decline a request for information if the information is
requested by the Requesting Party to administer or enforce a provision of the tax law of
the Requesting Party, or any requirement connected therewith, which discriminates against
a national or citizen of the Requested Party as compared with a national or citizen of the
Requesting Party in the same circumstances.
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ARTICLES
CONFIDENTIALITY
I. All information received by the competent authority of a Contracting Party shall be
kept confidential.
2. Information provided to the competent authority of the Requesting Party may be
used for purposes other than the purposes stated in Article 1 with the prior express written
consent of the Requested Party.
3. Information provided shall be disclosed only to persons or authorities (including
judicial and administrative authorities) concerned with the purposes specified in this
Agreement and used by such persons or authorities only for such purposes. for these
purposes, information may be disclosed in public court proceedings or in judicial
decisions.
4. Information provided to a Requesting Party under this Agreement may not be
disclosed to any other jurisdiction.
ARTICLE 9
IMPLEMENTING LEGISLATION
The Contracting Parties shall enact any legislation necessary to comply with, and give
effect to, the terms of this Agreement. This includes: availability of information, access to
information, exchange of information.
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ARTICLE 10
MUTUAL AGREEMENT PROCEDURE
1. Where difficulties or doubts arise between the Contracting Parties regarding the
implementation or interpretation of this Agreement, the competent authorities shall
endeavour to resolve the matter by mutual agreement.
2. In addition, the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties may mutually
agree on the procedures to be used under Articles 5 and 6.
3. The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties may communicate with each
other directly for the purposes of reaching an agreement under this Article.
4. The Contracting Parties may also agree in writing on other forms of dispute
resolution should this become necessary.
ARTICLE 11
ENTRY INTO FORCE
Each Contracting Party shall notify to the other of the completion of its internal
procedures required for the bringing into force of this Agreement. The Agreement shall
enter into force on the thirtieth day after the date of receipt of the later of these
notifications. Upon the date of entry into force, it shall have effect:
a) for criminal tax matters on that date ; and
b) for all other matters covered in Article 1, on that date, but only in respect of
taxable periods beginning on or after that date or, where there is no taxable period,
all charges to tax arising on or after that date.
ARTICLE 12
TERMINATION
1. Either Contracting Party may terminate this Agreement by serving a notice of
termination.
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2. Such tennination shall become effective on the first day of the month tollowing the
expiration of a period of three months after the date of receipt of notice of termination by
the other Contracting Party.
3. If the Agreement is terminated, the Contracting Parties shall remain bound by the
provisions of Article 8 with respect to any information obtained under this Agreement. All
requests received up to the effective date of termination will be dealt with in accordance
with the terms of this Agreement.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly authorised by the respective
Parties, have signed this Agreement.
DONE in duplicate at Bandar Seri Begawan on this thirtieth day of December 2010 in the
French, Malay and English languages, the three texts being equally authentic.
FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF
THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
Louis Le Vert
Ambassadeur de France
Au Brunei Darussalam
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FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF
HIS MAJESTY THE SULTAN AND
YANG DI-PERTUAN OF
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
Hisham Mohd. Hanifah
Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Finance